5 MINUTES WITH THE VIET VEGAN

I started to follow Lisa (aka The Viet Vegan) on Instagram when she was named as one of the top 15 vegan accounts to follow on Blog TO. She’s amazing!

Lisa is funny, personable, downright friendly, and highly skilled in the kitchen. Vietnamese food is amongst my favourite, and Lisa proves that going going vegan does not mean giving up this delicious style of cooking. She recreates childhood comfort favourites with ease, and is able to vegan-ize anything she gets her hands on! Her YouTube channel has taught me everything from how the hell to use lemongrass, to making the best vegan nachos. She even talked me out of getting granite counter tops!

Lisa agreed to take 5 mins out of her hectic schedule (between trips to LA, filming vlogs, and generally being veg-inspiring), to answer a few of my questions. Read on!

What’s the last thing you ate?

Chips and coffee haha (at 9 pm) because I’m pulling a late night and shark week is a-coming XD

Which vegan chef do you most admire and why?

I actually don’t really follow vegan chefs that much. The only two I know of are Tal Ronnen and Doug McNish—they’re both fantastic and creative chefs, but they also happen to be the only two vegan chefs I know of haha.

What’s the one dish you’ve created that’s scored you the most high fives?

It’s hard to say, there have been so many in the past. The vegan community freaked out when I posted my vegan popcorn chicken, and this was even before I went vegan. People have also told me that my pecan pie is the best pie they’ve ever had—vegan or otherwise—and lately a bunch of people have told me that my vegan beef stew is better than actual beef stew. It’s a fairly new recipe, but not gonna lie, that feels pretty good.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I feel like I’m grown up already doing what I want to do. I work in marketing right now—mostly doing creative development. So food photography, videos, digital content…actually basically what I do for my blog but for other businesses haha. It’s pretty fun.

What’s the one ingredient can’t you live without?

Ooh that’s hard. Probably rice.

Do vegans have more fun?

I mean, I can’t speak for everyone but I know how to have a good time haha. All I need is some good vegan food for me to talk around because I am super shy for the first 10 minutes.

7. What kitchen item do you most often buy for wedding gifts?

A chef’s knife. It appalling how many people don’t have at least one good knife. It doesn’t have to be a crazy expensive one! I survived with a 25$ IKEA knife for a good 4 years before I invested in a culinary school level chef’s knife!

Where’s the last place you went to on a date? (and what did you order?)

I went to Saigon on Brant for dinner (I ordered the vegan bun bo hue <3), had chocolate soft serve from Boon Burger, then walked along the Burlinton waterfront to catch a ton of Pokemon haha.

Did becoming vegan bring out any unexpected character traits in you? i.e. are you funnier now than ever before?

Once I transitioned to a vegan diet, I became a lot more confident in my debating skills. I used to be so terrible I learned to pick my battles and really understand where people are coming from when they get combative about my veganism. It made me aware of how self-conscious non-vegans were about eating meat and when to push buttons to inspire a change.

What’s the one thing you wish more people knew about vegan food?

I wish people knew how easy eating plant-based can be. You can go almost anywhere and eat something vegan. Sure you might get stuck with the “vegan special” (aka salad and fries), but all it takes is a little extra planning and you either eat before and after to get some actual nutrition outside of salad and fries OR your friends will just let you pick restaurants all the time 😉